Bent Attorney Esq. wrote:
> I've often wondered how retail bbq places know how much meat to
> prepare ahead of time. It's not like when they get close to running
> out of brisket they can just fire up some more in a jiffy.
> What if they get a slow Saturday night? They've prepped up 20 racks
> of ribs and they are waiting for customers. They only sell 10 racks.
> So what about the other 10 racks? They sure shouldn't reheat them the
> next day. Maybe that's why some places, some days their bbq is great
> and other days it's not. They may have reheated from the day before.

It's a "dark fiddly science" with a few different schools of thought.

Just about every food buisness looks at historical records, weather,
and events (concert, ball game, etc) that draw crowds. I did this
while working at a Mom&Pop pizza joint. You could count on huge days
for sports and college "dead week." But that was just dough and sauce,
not $$$$ like brisket.

The best BBQ places I've been to simply say, "Get here early or we
might run out." And they mean it. They cook with the idea of running
out of food and usually don't hold food over, but it wouldn't be
improper to use that days BBQ it in chili or beans for the next day.

Some places cook with the idea of having some spare for the next days
chili/beans.

Brisket is good cold, one place I know supplies local deli counters and
sells sliced brisket (or chunks) for take-home.

The crappy chains just nuke as they go from the Bucket-O-Q. But even
then they do order and prep based on trends. Most of the wastage
there is perishibles like veggies.

Some large chains do food runs between stores. A slow day on one side
of the town might be matched with a busy day on the other.

Not sure how many places cook-and-hold, basically cooking to a nearly
done state then either letting it cruise (slow cook) or refrigerating
for a quick visit to the oven when ordered.

--
DougW